THE FIFTY-SECOND inter-school national hockey tournament for under-19 years boys and girls will begin in the City from January 28. The event is organised by the education department of Indore.

THE FIFTY-SECOND inter-school national hockey tournament for under-19 years boys and girls will begin in the City from January 28. The event is organised by the education department of Indore.

Addressing the media, Education Department Indore Division joint director S B Singh, who is also the tournament organising secretary, said that 100 matches will be played and more than 1000 players from all over the country are taking part in the mega event. He said that a national-level tournament in hockey is organised for the first time by the department. The matches will be played at Daly College, Christian College, Nutan Vidyalaya and DRP lines, Singh added.

Giving details about the tournament, Singh said that 20 matches would be played daily. The first session will start at 8 am and the second from 2 pm onwards. The matches will be played on league-cum-knockout basis.

PWD Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya will inaugurate the tournament on January 28 at 9.30 am and former Olympian Meeranjan Negi will preside over the function.

Singh said that many teams have confirmed their participation and a couple of them have already arrived and are practicing at Daly College grounds.

Assistant Director Sports Tulsiram Ravre said that MP team is selected on the basis of their performance in the inter-divisional hockey tournament held at Damoh.

Apart from host Madhya Pradesh, teams from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are taking part in the tournament. More than 100 officials will be accompanying their teams and are taking the help of local hockey association for the successful completion of the tournament.